Eight states and counting

The picture to the left illustrates a nightly scene on our cross-country drive: Caden absolutely loves his teddy bear, but when he wakes up and wants our attention, we often hear a muffled "thump" and an "uh-oh" from him as he drops Teddy on the floor and calls us to rescue his fallen bear.

We've seen lots of neat things on our drive thus far, including 3,000-year-old bristlecone pines, fantastic rock formations, the beautiful campus of the University of Missouri, and the remains of a Native American city.

The first night of our trip--our last in California--was spent in Truckee. From there, we drove around Lake Tahoe and across Nevada on the Loneliest Road (Hwy 50) to Baker, which is a funny little town just outside the entrance to Great Basin National Park. The park is small, free, and absolutely beautiful! We took a short hike from the end of the road (which winds up Wheeler Peak to about 10,000 feet) to a bristlecone pine grove at treeline. Here, you can see Mommy and Caden next to a 3,200-year-old tree!

From Baker, we drove across Utah to Moab. On that stretch of road (particularly I-70 across southern Utah), Caden learned a new word: "wock" = rock, as we wound our way through fantastic rock formations. Caden put his new word to good use the following day, when we spent several hours exploring Arches National Park before returning to I-70 and continuing eastward to Louisville, Colorado, where we spent two nights with Great Grandpa Ray. Great Aunt Sheila and Great Uncle Brent were also there visiting, and Great Uncles Chuck and Kevin, Great Aunt Deb, and cousins Jared and Sean came over on Monday afternoon to meet Caden and share a wonderful meal.

With Great Grandpa Ray

Great Grandpa, Caden, and Daddy

A family gathering

From Louisville, we continued east on I-70, stopping for the night in Salina, Kansas and Columbia, Missouri. Highlights of our time in Kansas were air-conditioned rest stops and an indoor playground at a Dairy Queen. Trees and water became more plentiful in Missouri, and we had a great time wandering around Columbia, visiting some of Uncle Jerry's old haunts--he and Auntie Misty went to grad school at Mizzou. We liked Columbia so much that we decided to spend the next night in another midwestern college town, Bloomington, home of Indiana University. Between Columbia and Bloomington, we drove through St. Louis, then stopped a few miles east of the Mississippi River at the Cahokia Mounds Historic Site. A thousand years ago, Cahokia was a city of approximately 20,000 Native Americans. The mounds that remain--the foundations of buildings, a massive (100-foot-tall) ceremonial mound and chief's house, and burial mounds--are really impressive. There is a nice, air-conditioned museum there, where Caden especially liked pushing the buttons on the dioramas.

Gallery

In the bristlecone pine grove

Landscape Arch

Lessons from Great Grandpa

Gateway Arch, St. Louis
Caden at Cahokia Mounds

Farewell to California

We departed from Sebastopol on Friday afternoon and are now working our way across the country, en route to our new home in Massachusetts. During the weeks leading up to our departure, we spent a lot of time with friends, enjoying many of our favorite spots and activities in Sonoma County. Highlights included the following:

(1) A yummy, friend-filled farewell hosted by our mentors, Jay and Susan.

(2) Finalizing the purchase of our new home in Massachusetts.

(3) A last Tuesday pizza gathering with Amy, Brian, Owen, Randall, David, and James, which featured champagne (for the adults) and tasty dessert.

(4) Farewells to Shelly, Caden's nanny for the past ten months, and Bodhi, his nanny-share buddy.

(5) Visits to the park and ducks near our house.

(6) Caden's first time in a swimming pool, at David, Randall, and James' place.

(7) Caden's first experience with paint and brushes. Amy and Owen came over on "packing day" to help Caden create a masterpiece.

(8) Gathering with friends amidst our piles of boxes to celebrate fun times together (and to scrub the kitchen, wash the windows, take a pile of boxes to recycle, and dust the blinds ... thanks guys!). Caden's new word that day was "baw" (box), which he repeated over and over as he touched all of the boxes.

(9) Caden riding in the driver's seat of the 80-foot semi that is carrying most of our possessions to Massachusetts.

We've had a wonderful 3.5 years enjoying the people and places in Northern California. Thanks to all of you who made our time there special!

A week before our departure, Caden visited the doctor one last time, which meant one more shot, but also meant an updated "official" weight measurement. Caden now weighs 21.5 pounds, and his updated growth trajectories are below:


For those of you following Caden's vocal repertoire, we present...

Updates to the Caden-English dictionary

baiee = bye; baw = box; chis = cheese; chuh = Cheerio; da dee = doggie; hat = hat or hot (context-dependent); ish = fish; tees = tree; uh-oh = I just dropped something; wah wah = water; wah wuh = flower; wock = rock or walk (context-dependent); yaiyai = light

Gallery

Dressed up for our farewell soiree

Gathered for Union pizza

Static electricity makes me crazy

Reading with Shelly

Playing with Bodhi

BML babes, babies, & boxes

And a final word from Caden

Look at him go!

We had a tasty Tuesday pizza dinner over at Amy, Brian, and Owen's place this past evening. Caden had a great time playing with Owen's toys, watching Scooter the dog (or is that "da"?), and hanging out with his friends Owen and James. And then, Caden discovered how much fun Owen's walker can be....

Cruisin' around

We're savoring our last few weeks here, spending time with friends, enjoying the sunny weather, and watching Caden explore his world with increasing skill and rapidity. We've enjoyed parties, dinners, and outings with friends from the lab, including a fun picnic yesterday with Amy, Brian, and Owen in the park near our house and a hike with Matt and Sarah last Saturday. We've been wandering down to the local farmers' market at the plaza on Sundays. Caden especially likes the fountain, the kids, and the music. Today, we ran into Caden's buddy James and his mom, Randall, at the farmers' market, and we listened to some good bluegrass together. Our friend Emily also came by and chatted for a while. We're really going to miss this place and our friends.

Caden has figured out how to get pretty much everywhere in the house via a combination of frog-crawling (he kicks with both feet together), cruising, and scooting. Today, he added a new skill to his repertoire: he can now get from his belly into a sitting position. Given his rather unorthodox method of "crawling"--he still doesn't get up on his hands and knees--we were wondering exactly how he was going to learn to sit. Caden walks backward with his hands, keeping his feet planted and his legs straight. Eventually, he reaches a tipping point and falls back onto his behind. Today, he frog-crawled over to the gate in the hallway, hand-walked into a sitting position, then pulled himself to standing on the gate. Boy, was he pleased with himself!

As promised, here's an update on Caden's increasing vocabulary:

Caden-English Dictionary

(parenthetical numbers refer to the order in which he learned them)

aie = eye (8)
da da = Daddy (6)
da = dog (4)
du = duck (7)
haiee = hi (2)
hai de = hi there (3)
kee-kee = kitty (1)
ma ma = Mommy (5)

A few more pictures

With Dave, our kiwi friend

A duet with Mommy

Cozy with his teddy bear

Video of the week

Here, you can see Caden pulling up on the gate and cruising into his bedroom. If you turn the volume up, you'll notice that he is making a funny squealing noise. That's because Mommy is enticing him into the bedroom with his stuffed humpback whale puppet. How many 15-month-olds do you know who make whale sounds?

Goin' on a house hunt

The biggest event of the past several weeks has been our hunt for a house in Massachusetts. We all headed eastward on June 16th. Grandma Jo flew out from Corvallis, and it was wonderful to see her waiting for us when we exited security in Boston. Gma Jo was a great help during the week we were there, since Mommy and Daddy were spending so much time looking at houses and signing papers. The house we stayed in (called the Pond House) overlooked a really neat (you guessed it!) pond filled with ducks, bullfrogs, turtles, and huge carp, and Gma Jo and Caden had lots of fun watching all of the animals from the deck.

Our mission was a successful one--we found a really nice house in a great neighborhood. It's really close to both an elementary and a middle school, with lots of green space around it. Here, you can see Mommy, Daddy, and Caden exploring our soon-to-be new home:

From the street
Exploring the back patio

Playing with the dining room chandelier

During our week on the North Shore, we also had fun exploring Marblehead, Salem and Swampscott; poking around on the rocky shore near the Pond House; and spending time with our new colleagues at the Marine Science Center.

Exploring the intertidal zone

Walking near our new home
At our neighborhood playground

Admiring the Spirit of '76

Catching frogs with Daddy

Pond gazing with Gma Jo

Showing off my new teeth

Soooooo Big!

We'll provide a more detailed update soon, but in the meantime, here's Caden showing how big he is: